Decks are flat and rigid surfaces, generally for supporting live loads at an elevated surface. Decks are frequently constructed over a void or rough terrain, so as to provide a safe and reliable surface on which people may walk and stand over that terrain. They offer convenience by minimizing the need to step up and down to and from living and outdoor areas.
Decks are usually supported by a frame assembly below the deck. Such deck frame assemblies are often constructed with wood or steel beams and joists coupled, braced, and attached at regular intervals and standard angles, such as thirty, forty-five, sixty, and ninety degrees. Decks constructed on straight walls or around rectangular houses lend themselves well to such standard construction techniques.
The building environment is not always standard, however. For instance, many pools have irregular shapes. “Kidney pools,” for example, have substantially kidney-shaped perimeters, generally with two or three round lobes disposed along a curve. While rectangular pools can be decked around or over fairly routinely, these kidney pools present difficulties. The odd angles of an irregular perimeter create extremely challenging connections since commercially-available brackets are only available in a few standard angles, such as forty-five and ninety degrees. However, the odd angles of an irregular perimeter require deck installers to adapt conventional brackets or custom-craft individual connections among the structural elements. Other structures may have one or more design “problems” that make use of conventional right-angle brackets difficult.
For decks that overlie pools, other challenges exist. Laying the decking planks flush with the surrounding pool deck requires a supporting structural framework that is generally secured to the pool walls. However, many pools have an overhanging lip at the top of the pool wall. This lip may be only a few inches tall, and anchors for brackets drilled into the lip would be close to the deck surface and thus present a risk of cracking the deck or even failing to support the joist.
Further still, for decks overlying pools, fitting the deck frame assembly is a challenge because of the irregularity of the perimeter. Each frame member must generally be custom cut; while off-site cutting can be economical, it is vulnerable to mis-measurement. Cutting on site is slow but more likely to be accurate. An improved deck system is needed.